Samsung announced its new T7 Touch portable SSD at CES 2020 on Wednesday. It features the same svelte, pocket-sized appearance and styling of the older Samsung T5—which we loved—and uses the same Type-C connector. But new to the party is a fingerprint scanner that can be used in conjunction with provided software to secure access to the onboard data.
The Samsung T7 Touch also supports password security and integrated 256-bit AES encryption, though there was no mention of a FIPS rating for physical security. The T5 was a rugged drive, but not rated to withstand serious prying.

Samsung’s T7 uses USB 3.2 but only a single 10Gbps channel unlike rival Seagate’s FireCuda Gaming SSD, which uses USB 3.2 Gen2x2 with its dual-channels.
Speeds via USB 3.2 (single channel 10Gbps) are said to be around 1GBps both reading and writing—considerably faster than the T5. The Samsung T7 Touch is warrantied for three years, and priced at $130 for 500GB, $230 for 1TB and $400 for 2TB. Look for a review here on PCWorld later this month.
Samsung Portable SSD T7 Touch (500GB)
